Hi Helene, Welcome to Café Cala.

It’s great to have you visit Café Cala. I’ve loved all your books including Safe Harbour. This morning I’ve been making some banana bread. Would you like tea or coffee with yours?

Coffee would be fabulous, Maggie. I’m a ‘two cups in the morning’ kind of writer.

1 Where did you get the idea for Safe Harbour?

Safe Harbour bubbled around for quite a while in my imagination. I wanted to explore how sport provides the opportunity for teenagers in remote communities to choose a different career path. I’ve watched so many sports teams boarding my aircraft in places like Horn Island and Weipa and I always wonder how many of them actually make it to the big league. The issue of drugs in sport has also been on my hit list for a long while…
On the romance front I’d been dying to explore the allure of the bad boy versus the safety of the boy next door. Could there be another ending for the story? Safe Harbour’s love triangle kept me guessing right to the end!

2 What have you found most rewarding about your writing?

Meeting readers has been an unexpected joy. I hadn’t really thought about who would read my stories and it’s wonderful to do a library talk and find that some of them have read my books and then taken the time to come along to meet me. It’s very humbling and uplifting. I also love receiving emails from readers who’ve connected to the characters and then take the time to write to me.

3 How did you start writing

I’ve always been a bit of a dabbler. I loved English as a subject at school and always assumed I’d write a book – and that sounds a little crazy but there you have it!
It wasn’t until we moved to Cairns for my job with Qantaslink that I finally had time to write. I completed my first manuscript without telling a soul what I was doing. It languished in a dusty drawer for over a year before my husband found it and convinced me to submit it. After a very polite rejection it was returned to the drawer but by then I’d turned on the tap and the words wouldn’t stop.

4 What would you say has helped you most?

RWA as an organisation provided a contest circuit where I could get unbiased feedback. And then it provided me with the most wonderful network of fellow writers who’ve supported and cheered for me every step of the way. A wonderful organisation, run entirely by volunteers – amazing!

5 What are you working on at the moment?

I’m working on a redemption story. A character in Safe Harbour just had to tell his story and he made a very compelling case for why he deserves to find happiness. It’s set in Cooktown and there’s a whole lot of criminal activity happening in the upper reaches of the Endeavour River!

6 What advice would you offer aspiring writers?

Write what you love to read, write what you know and write. That old saying ‘you can’t edit a blank page’ is soooo true.

7 Which authors do you enjoy reading?

Love reading books by Bronwyn Parry, Anna Campbell, Katherine Howell, Kathryn Fox, all of the wonderful Australian rural writers, Tony Parks, Kate Forsyth, Fiona McIntosh, Hannah Kent – the list is rather extensive!!
Thanks so much for inviting me in for a coffee!

SAFE HARBOUR
“When Darcy Fletcher drags a handsome sailor from a stricken yacht, she finds herself drawn into his mysterious world. Having saved his life can she now rescue him from his dark past? Or will that endanger all she holds most dear?
Noah, keeper of the peace and guardian of the Banskia Cove secrets, can’t tell Darcy the real reason this man has washed up on their shores. If she knew the links between the stranger and her own dysfunctional family, she’d flee the Cove and he’d lose her love for good.
As they take refuge in an old whaling station, only one thing is certain – by morning, no one will be the same again. Lies will surface, hearts will break, and not all will find safe harbour.”

Visit me at : http://www.heleneyoung.com
Follow me at twitter https://twitter.com/HeleneYoung
Watch the trailer at : http://youtu.be/JdFV1d9zxek
Read an excerpt at : http://www.heleneyoung.com/books/excerpt-safe-harbour/
Buy Safe Harbour at : Booktopia
http://www.booktopia.com.au/safe-harbour-helene-young/prod9781921901836.html
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Harbour-Helene-Young-ebook/dp/B00HWN55KS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1394838907&sr=8-4&keywords=Safe+Harbour
Also available at all good bookstores, iTunes, Kobo and all e-retailers.